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Hurdles champs: TCA's Chacon sweeps, Doherty's Chavez just shy of adding a second
Doherty senior Ryne Chavez came painstakingly close to also grabbing two 5A titles, as he won the 300 hurdles following a runner-up finish in the 110 hurdles. His defeat in the 110 hurdles – he finished in 14.69 seconds – was by 0.01 of a second behind Cody Billings of Littleton. Chavez then ran the 300 hurdles in 37.7 seconds to beat Dakota Leazer of Fountain-Fort Carson by 0.62 of a second and Garrett Moore of Ralston Valley by 1.36 seconds.
“I’ve been working hard to be at this moment to try to win, and I finally got the chance,” said Chavez, who ran the anchor leg on the 1,600 relay team that wound up third.
Chavez hardly fretted over Billings edging him in the 110 hurdles, saying that “I guess he was ahead of me. He did a good job.” He trailed Leazer in the 300 hurdles before he told himself, “I got to step it up.” Leazer fell behind Chavez on the sixth hurdle, and from that point, Chavez had it. “I started coming off harder,” Chavez said, “and I finished strong.”
LAKEWOOD – Alexa Chacon didn’t want to take any chances. She had done the dirty work, and she simply needed to clear one more hurdle. So she acted as cautious as ever.
“The last one is the tricky one,” Chacon said after winning in the 3A 100- and 300-meter hurdles at the state track and field championships Saturday at Jefferson County Stadium.
PHOTO GALLERIES FROM STATE: DAY 1 l DAY 2 l DAY 3
The Classical Academy junior took a careful leap toward the finish line to claim the 300 hurdles in 44.41 seconds – 0.51 of a second in front of Courtney Mills of Berthoud and 3.57 seconds ahead of Colorado Springs Christian School senior Tori Cox. Chacon barely was challenged in initially winning the 100 hurdles in 14.57 seconds, a time that was 1.54 seconds better than Gabby Pajak of Pagosa Springs and 1.56 seconds better than Cox.
“Every weather is great in our eyes. That’s just what I tried to think of,” Chacon said of the rain before she ran the anchor leg on the 400 relay team that placed fourth.
Chacon was the defending champion in the 300 hurdles, although Mills kept “right there with me the whole time,” she said. Plus, “I’ve never been strong at finishing,” she said. “But those girls are talented, and they overwhelmed me with this fighter spirit to finish. That’s the whole thing. In a 300 hurdles race, it’s how you start, but you’ve got to finish.”
In the 100 hurdles, “I was afraid of getting in the finals” after she finished third last year, Chacon said. “I get really nervous. And anything can happen in a 100 hurdles race.” Still, she was confident since her coaches had helped her perfect her form, and the Titans had entered several meets against 5A schools “just to get used to that competition,” she said.
Contact Brian Gomez: 719-636-0256 or brian.gomez@gazette.com. Facebook: Brian Gomez. Twitter: @gazetteskysox. Google+: Brian Gomez.
